I won't do that again!

I didn't even think about it being dangerous. I needed to start the bbq and the ashes were blocking the air vent so I carried it in the back yard and dumped the ashes on the pile of weeds, grass clippings and such. It really was just ash and I didn't even think about it being hot when the ashes had 24 hrs to cool. There didn't even appear to be any lumps of coal in there. Boy was I wrong. Last night, 11:45, we're sound asleep and there is a loud knock on our door. Our neighbor from a house behind us told Joe our yard was on fire and that the fire department was on the way. He ran back and found flames about 3 ft high going along the chain link fence. Mostly burning a holly tree that thankfully didn't burn very fast. The fire wasn't very big yet and he was able to spray it out with the hose quickly. The fire truck came, thankfully without all their lights and sirens and came back to spray some more and make sure the fire was out. The fire was only about 15 ft from our house. God used our neighbor to caution us and we are very thankful!